GamePro Family

Whilst Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend steal the headlines this week there's still a number of excellent family gaming titles out to entertain everyone of all ages.

Stripping away the hardcore ingredients that made Guitar Hero 3 and World Tour so difficult to get into, Guitar Hero 5 changed its spots and became a wonderfully easy game for everyone to get into. With the annoying gameplay mechanics of the previous iterations eliminated, we found the Avatar support and the overall accessibility opening the experience up to the more casual players of my family.

Coming to this after the amazing Beatles Rock Band experience I was sceptical that anything Guitar Hero could throw my way would be special. After all, the only direction you can go after the Fab Four is down, especially when it comes to how accessible their music is. But to my surprise Guitar Hero 5 blew off its own hardcore shackles and opened up a new side that was true family friendly gaming and less oppressive than I'm usually accustomed to. This newfangled approach was oddly served by a bizarre and awkward playlist that tried to be everything to everybody and yet appealed to no-one.

Two big releases this week and also the arrival of the PSP Go - Sony's latest iteration of their handheld that's slimmer, thinner and without the UMD drive. But if you're slumming it with the previous versions then Gran Turismo gets its long-awaited release onto the PSP with over 800 models and 30 tracks from around the world.

A light week of family game releases after the more mature Halo 3: ODST (M) dominates the videogame airwaves this week. But filling out the other releases is Spyborgs (T) on the Wii which takes on the superhero genre and adds a bit of cybernetically enchanced action in for good measure.

Lots of good family games out this week and the most creative release has to be that of Scribblenauts (E10) for the DS. This is a simple platformer game with the twist that you can create whatever it is you need to complete a level by typing in the name of objects that you want. It's an incredible twist on using your own creativity to solve puzzles and also have an immense blast at the same time.

The Beatles: Rock Band (T), gets its release this week and its safe to say that I was blown away by the quality of its production and sheer fun my family had whilst playing it. The sheer amount of fun and entertainment the relatively short story mode produced for us was immense and I highly recommend the game to anyone with an interest in music games or The Beatles. 

It's a superhero themed week for family games at the beginning of September as Champions Online(T) gets its long-awaited US & European release on Tuesday.

Tempting though it is to wax lyrical about Reel Fishing: Angler's Dream(E) for the Wii this week, it would be doing a great disservice to the long awaited Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box(E10). 

There’s not much say about this week’s releases as they can’t come close to some of the bigger releases this year. Having said that – there are a few interesting titles that are worth taking a closer look at.